Kuch Khaas – Something special

About Kuch Khaas

Kuch Khaas is a community space for discourse, learning, meaningful entertainment and participation in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan. Kuch Khaas was founded in May 2010 when Pakistan was experiencing an ever increasing security threat due to the war on terror. As a result, common people in the country were starved of meaningful recreational options. Amidst this chaos, Kuch Khaas provided the residents of the capital city with a venue to not only unwind but also to exercise their creative expression.

“A not-for-profit social enterprise, it advocates the pursuit of knowledge and civic engagement to slowly bring about “lasting social change in Pakistan.” (Mussadaq, 2010)

 

Kuch Khaas turned to social media to promote its presence and engage with their customers. As a result they received an overwhelming response from their target audience. At its inception, they totally relied on social media and the word of mouth for their marketing and popularity.

This new venture grew within a short span of time and in a year’s time Kuch Khaas became the most frequented place in the city.

From board games to musical concerts, theatrical performances to debates around serious issues and raising voice against social illnesses, Kuch Khaas was doing it all. They were not only organizing events and meet ups but also provided a platform for the youth of Islamabad to showcase their talent.

A new way to engage:

Kuch Khaas employed a number of ways to engage with its customers and to ensure that they can get the best experience.

Collaborations: Kuch Khaas took a different standpoint towards arranging events and collaborations. They not only arrange their own events to promote social discourse, talent nights and meet ups but are open to collaborate with other organizations to deliver events that are meaningful and engaging for KuchKhaas audience.

Learning and development: They offer a place where anyone from within the community can offer a class to teach a skill to anyone who is interested in learning. The schedule and offers are available on their facebook page for everyone to see and participate.

Livestream: In case someone is not able to physically participate in any of the events, Kuch Khaas has the option of livestreaming for them. Select events are streamed live for their online audience to enjoy.

Place for discourse: It’s not just all fun, dance and arts but they also offer and encourage debates on issues that are ailing the society. Discussions around ‘gender and Islam’, ‘Pakistan after Bin Laden’,  ‘democracy’, ‘harassment prevention’ and similar subjects is quotidian here.

Blogs/Opinion pieces: KuchKhaas desk is the blogging platform that is used to voice the organization’s opinion on the latest happenings in town. They use this opportunity to not only encourage the local talent but also provide honest feedback on various topics of interest.

Talent nights: Kuch Khaas offers a platform for the talented individuals to portray their art by arranging events like talent nights, comedy gigs, musical events and performing arts etc. This initiative placed a lot of individuals from within the community in spotlight, eventually helping them to launch their careers.

Results:

Kuch Khaas placed social media in the forefront of their strategy to engage with their customers. Their facebook page has more than 265K followers whereas their twitter following is 5.5K as of now. Their facebook engagement status shows that they reply to their audience within an hour. So far they have received above 19,000 original reviews and their rating is 3.8 stars.

Comments like ‘a special place’, ‘wonderful’, ‘best place’ and ‘a great entertainment community’ were prevalent throughout the reviews.

Lessons for Others

Kuch Khaas is an example of how one can turn the tide in their favor by using innovative solutions to engage customers.

• Quick turnaround time: The time frame of replying within an hour works well in engaging and retaining the customer.
• Offering solutions online: Kuch khaas uses their online presence as the main avenue to engage with their customers. Features like live streaming of certain events offer flexibility to those customers who are not able to physically attend.
• Engaging video content: Recent trends show that video content has the highest rate of consumption among the netizens today. Kuch Khaas uses this to their advantage by creating timely and engaging video content for their audience.

As a result of these strategies, Kuch Khaas has managed to become the most loved place for the people of Islamabad.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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